


Augmented Reality

by kurukii (catastrophage)



Category: Pokemon GO
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 08:44:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9811802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catastrophage/pseuds/kurukii
Summary: Spark stared in disbelief. "They don't have any pokémon?" This was a nightmare. A world without pokémon.He tried to collect himself. "I want to help them."A ficlet about the release of Pokémon Go, written for and as requested by my friend.





	

**Augmented Reality**

"It's about time, Spark."

The blonde teenager looked up, into the eyes of his professor. He got distracted easily, he had his cell phone in one hand, a pokéball in the other. He was sitting in the office, applying stickers to his team balls. One sticker escaped, unattended, and stuck to his hoodie. It was a little yellow star, which he then started searching, without success. So he was in an awkward pose, cell phone up in the air because he had been taking pictures of the finished decorations, head half under the desk searching for something yellow other than his shoes, when the professor spoke again.

"It's about time."

This was the sentence he had been hoping to hear for the past months, years even. He was trained to start an adventure, but many kids left earlier, the professor always just fed him with hopes. And now was his time. He jumped up on the realization, hitting his shoulder on the edge of the table. "Ouch!" He pushed the chair back, but didn't fully gain his balance yet, so he more stumbled than walked to the professor. "Yes! I'm ready!"

Professor Willow shook his head with a smile. Spark had always been his problem child. How he stood there now, rubbing his shoulder with a pokéball, hair in a mess and a star sticker on his chest, was both endearing and worrisome. But it was time indeed. "You will be sent on a mission. It is your first mission and it's not an easy one."  
Spark didn't even listen to the last part of the sentence, he just nodded excitedly. "Where will I go?"  
The professor still had smiled, but now his expression turned serious. "You will enter the teleport and connect to a place called Earth. It is similar to where we live, aside from the startling fact that we do not have any reports of pokémon living on there. With your talents in breeding and evolution, we hope you can help to establish a new ecosystem on your destination."

Spark stared in disbelief. "They don't have any pokémon?" This was a nightmare. A world without pokémon. How would they even travel? How would they create electricity? What if they needed strong help? And what if they were lonely... and wanted to cuddle?  
He tried to collect himself. "I want to help them. Professor Willow - please - can I take my team with me? I would feel very lonely without them."  
The professor nodded. Then he reached out and put an arm around the boy's shoulders, to guide him to another room and make sure he wouldn't stumble or get distracted on the way. "I have prepared some cages, each full of pidgeys, zubats and rattatas. In the city you arrive, you will release them. I have come to the conclusion these are the easiest to start an ecosystem with. Additionally I have packed a bag full of eggs from different pokémon. I will send you more once you got started. If you need dittos to keep a pokémon from an early extinction, I will provide those, too."

Spark nodded. He was very excited and just wanted to go right away. When the professor let him, he ran back to the desk and grabbed his team's pokéballs. Sparky, his volteon would join him, and so would Fearow and Pika. Frizzle, his spider pokémon as well. This way he would have enough electricity for his gadgets at any given time. The purple Pasta would come along, because he was a funny guy. And Exeggutor, in case of any dangerous events that could not be mastered with electricity. He tilted his head, knowing his team was not very balanced, but then he shrugged it off. His professor would send him others, if he needed them. Most important was that his best friends came along!

Spark hurried back to the professor, six pokéballs in his arms, his cellphone and pokédex stuffed in his hoodie, together with the sheet of stickers. The professor handed him the bag full of eggs. He pointed at smaller bags in the front and sides. "Put them here, you'll need both hands in case of a rough landing."  
They carried the cages and bag into the teleport. Then Spark entered it. "See you soon, professor! I will make that Earth a better place!"

.  
.  
.

He had a rough landing, but he was okay. Whenever he had done teleport training, he fell on his arms and knees so he was used to it. He rubbed his hurting back and looked around. It seemed like the end location was an elevator. And by the look of the corridor behind the open doors, it was an apartment building. He chose the ground level and waited for the elevator to close the doors and open again. Getting the cages out was an easy task, as they had just smaller pokémon inside.  
Outside, in a corner, he found a dumpster and trash bags. An ideal place for rattata! He released some, hoping this Earth place provided food for them. A little later he released two pidgeys. All day he spent releasing pokémon and hiding some of his eggs.

In the evening he contacted the professor. "I've released them, all over the city. I will watch them from now. I'm excited to find out what the eggs will hatch!"  
Willow's answer came in a little lagged, but clear enough. "Go and find some trainers. You will train them, so they can help you keep an eye on the population of pokémon. Teach them how to catch pokémon, so in case of an imbalance, they can assist you quickly."

.  
.  
.

Spark did not have a place to sleep at, so he went to a place illuminated with bright neons. It turned out to be a casino, and they had ufo catchers. One of the catchers was occupied by a teenager, roughly his age. He had short, spiky hair and wore one of those hip sun visors. This place is just like home, besides the missing pokémon, Spark thought. And he would fix that.

"Hey trainer!" he called the other boy, who looked confused but then nodded. "Hey."  
"Tonight I will teach you about pokémon and how to catch them."  
The boy's eyes lit up. "Is it time for the next generation?" And this confused Spark.  
He really had no clue what the other was talking about. "Can we... sit down somewhere?"

The boy went out and Spark followed him. Near the casino was a vending machine. The boy got some coffee, and when Spark didn't buy anything, he offered to get him a second can. The taste was new to the blonde, too bitter for his liking, but out of politeness, he drank it. While he still tried to sort out the taste of the beverage, the other started talking. "I have been playing since 1996. I've applied for the beta of the new gen, I guess you'll now tell me I've made it? Today is my lucky day!"  
Spark still did not understand a word. He sipped his coffee, even liking it a bit after half a can. Playing. 1996. Beta. Gen. He just did not understand what the other tried to tell him. So he took his arm to stop him talking and pointed to a nearby trashcan, where one of his released rattata had shown his head. "Have you seen this rattata over there?"

The boy looked at it. He looked like he was honestly searching but not finding what he was looking for. "A rattata?" he asked. Then his expression changed, because he realized this could be a promotion gag and he would have to play along. "Yes of course, there's a rattata hiding in the trash!"

Spark's heart beat faster. He could see it and he knew what a rattata was! He knew pokémon! This place was not without pokémon, they just were... extinct for some reason. "I am repopulating this place with pokémon, so your world will be a better place soon," he said with a smile. Then he realized he could simply show the other his own friends. "This is a test. I will show you three pokémon and you have to guess their names."

He pulled out his pokéballs and the trainer looked really excited. This would be easy, then! The first one he got was Pasta. He pressed the button and let it appear. The other boy still looked at his hand, though. Pasta ran around aimlessly and bumped against the young trainer. Still no reaction, he seemed to wait for the ball to open. Spark coughed into his fist to signal him his time was running. But even though the trainer looked around quickly, he never focused Pasta. This was weird. 

"Can't you... see it?"  
The trainer shook his head. "I'm sorry. Should I just come up with one? I really like charmander!"  
Spark had to laugh unconfidently. "Actually, a charmander would hurt it."  
The trainer thought about it. "So it is weak to fire. What means it is either grass, ice, bug or steel. Man there are so many. Is it leafeon? Or maybe glaceon?"  
Spark gave up. "You really can't see them." He was a little disappointed, but also very sorry. He let his poor Pasta come back into his ball and stuffed it back into the bag. "It's okay," he said. "Don't be sad, I will have to think about it."  
But the other guy was not happy with his answer at all. He stopped the blonde when he wanted to turn away and go. "You can't go now! Please! I've been looking forward to meeting you, I really want to become a trainer. Why don't you visit my place? I live right next to this casino and my room is filled to the brim with pokémon!"

Spark nodded, although with a sigh. This was a case of miscommunication. But the other was really excited and he said he had pokémon in his room. He looked sincere and much like a trainer. He followed him to the apartment, hands on Sparky's pokéball just in case.

.  
.  
.

Spark let out a happy sigh when he dropped himself onto the other's bed. He had told the truth: filled to the brim with pokémon. One wall was covered in plastic sheets containing trading cards, there were plushies of charmander, bulbasaur and squirtle on the bed. The young trainer switched on his TV and console and the screen introduced a game called Pokémon Stadium. The only thing missing were... real pokémon.

"You don't have them, right? Real pokémon I mean." The trainer looked at him confused, still not getting what Spark meant. "It is a game series, the best game series!"  
"So you know about pokémon but when you see one - a real one - you can't see it." At this point Spark talked more to himself, but the trainer answered defensively. "I would recognize them! I know them all!" He threw one of the game controllers into Spark's lap and demanded to play a match. It was easy to understand the controls and the screen showed a pixely but still very accurate gym battle. Spark was impressed how his trainer chose always the right type of pokémon to fight his team. "You're really good!" he praised him and the boy flashed a happy and proud smile.

Then Spark got up. "I will think about it. The... what was it? Beta, yes. I will think about the beta."  
He showed his thumbs up and before the boy could get too excited, he left the apartment.

.  
.  
.

It was early in the morning, when Spark had found an internet café he could use to communicate face-to-face with the professor. The connection was a little weak, the professor was shown with random pixels in his hair. The sound was tinny, but at least they could hear each other. Spark had explained the problem, the professor almost didn't believe him. But then he nodded and promised they would come up with a plan. A white haired guy appeared next to him and frantically typed into their laptop. With a glance on the screen, the professor said: "Let's talk again tomorrow. Wait - no - just come back this evening. Make sure your cellphone is charged."

Spark did as he was told, he set up another connection to his home world later the day. Professor Willow was standing in his room, a bright smile on his lips. The white haired guy stood next to him, with a blank expression. Like an assistant they held up their phone. Willow said: "Open your inbox. I've sent you a link."  
"What is it?" asked Spark, downloading an app to his phone from the link the professor had sent him. "It's a tool that will help you with your mission," the old man answered.

.  
.  
.

Spark knocked on the same apartment door he had entered just two days ago. He was a little earlier than the other day, late afternoon maybe. The door opened for a bit and two dark eyes looked at him. He could see a glimpse of a facial expression turning to a smile, then the door swung open and his trainer welcomed him. "I'm glad we meet again!"

Spark nodded and reached inside his hoodie. He took his smartphone out and carefully removed a green leaf sticker that got stuck on it. Then he opened the app and reached his phone to the boy. "This will help us enter the next round," Spark chirped. The boy looked confused. The program looked like an ordinary camera function.  
"I will release my pokémon. Please take a picture of it." Spark reached for his pokéballs and got Pasta out again. It started running up and down the corridor, stopping at one door or another to turn around in panic, shaking its little purple tentacles. The boy sighed. He still could not see it, and he thought it was another trick, testing his imagination. "I... I never thought I would say so, but I think I'm too old for this."

"Look through the camera," Spark insisted. The boy rose his hand and pointed the camera to where Spark was looking. He prepared himself to act as if he had seen a pikachu, but then his expression suddenly softened, he started smiling like a child. The boy could feel his face heat up from happiness, his voice turned hoarse. "I... there... that is... it's a tangela! It's from the first gen! It's running to my neighbors! Wait now it comes back! It looks scared - poor boy!"

Spark smiled as well. Chills ran down his spine, he was so moved that finally his young trainer could see the pokémon. He let Pasta back into his ball, then took the phone from the boy. "Give me your number, I will send you the app." And then they would go out together, to explore the world which was new to both of them.


End file.
